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Kyphosis

My daughter, a former gymnast, got a compression fracture early this year. Upon discovery of the fracture, the doctor told us she had kyphosis, 60 degrees. She was in a brace for a few months full time and the fracture healed. She left gymnasts permanently. She wore the brace at night for 6 more weeks and now the curve is 70 degrees. Dr. suggesting surgery, spinal fusion. We go tomorrow to learn more. I am so worried about this! Is it routine to do surgery for kyphosis? i didn't even notice the curve in her back, partly because she has always compensated with a lower back arch (which I thought was from gymnastics).

I would like to understand what life is like after this kind of surgery? What kind of functionality/flexibility do you have? Can you do sports? What can't you do.
Anyone else with kyphosis surgery

I hope you got an answer to this, k'smom. I know how worried you must be. As for what forum is "right" I think it depends on your daughter's age. I would have thought one of the family and friends forums would work better and attract more knowledgeable attention.

I was surprised to learn that gymnasts and ballet dancers often suffer from spinal deformities and injuries including spondylolisthesis (which I have) - side to side sliding of vertebrae, also caused by vertebral fractures from hyper-extension.

I did extreme stretching for most of my life which came easy for me because I have a hypermobility syndrome. I thought it was a gift, but now I see it as a curse.

Now I have both extreme lumbar scoliosis AND lumbar kyphosis but I was told that the kyphosis would resolve when underlying rotation was corrected.

1) I imagine as for regular scoliosis surgery, there are surgical rules for cut offs (how pronounced the angle is and where it's located), how fast it's progressing and other mitigating factors.

2) Permissible activity level after scoliosis surgery is talked about a lot here, and in general the responses seem to stretch the envelope of what I would have thought possible or recommended - in the "good" (i.e., allowed) direction. It seems what is critical is that fusion is complete first. For a young woman, that would probably take a year at most and maybe far less.

Again, probably the same is true of kyphosis surgery. Maybe if you look up "thoracoplasty" you will find relevant remarks. I would assume it all depends on the cause of the kyphosis, too. If, for instance, she is rotated from underlying scoliosis, it might "unwind" when that's corrected.

Just a little input from a different perspective. Maybe someone else will chime in and also tell you where the best forum for your query is.